The Way, Way Back

“Uber-awkward 14 year-old Duncan (Liam James) is forced to spend his summer at a Massachusetts beach house owned by the guy who is quite possibly going to be his stepfather… there is nothing particularly subtle about the plot…[b]ut there are many lovely, insightful moments in The Way, Way Back, most especially the one in the last few frames… “.

Despicable Me 2

“…[T]his pleasing sequel is actually a classic marriage plot…the domesticated Gru (Steve Carell) is now, after a lifetime of avoiding the opposite sex for fear of rejection, shoved into the dating market… the flatulence humor is plentiful — [but there are plenty of] choice lines for parents in the audience… Despicable Me 2 is … a sequel stands level with the first film … and may have the edge on it.

White House Down

“…[White House Down] certainly looks (and sounds) like an action movie à la Die Hard… But what makes [the movie] not just tolerable but frivolously entertaining is its slapstick soul… [Stars Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum] have such easy chemistry and are so damn cute that the well-worn conceit of two opposites thrown together in a difficult situation hardly seems tired at all…”

Monsters University

” … [A] a horror movie disguised as a buddy comedy…In a cunning variation on the teen-school milieu of the Harry Potter films, Monsters University envisions a brighter, weirder Hogwarts, with giant hogs and real warts… But this minor film with major charms still deserves to have kids drag their parents to the multiplex for another peek at the monsters in the closet.,,.”

World War Z

“…The zombies in World War Z are a swift, teeming mass, a “perfect delivery system” for worldwide plague… What chance does one man have to defeat a ravenous über-Army? Well, he’s played by Brad Pitt… [The movie’s] docudrama approach is brisk, muscular and scary… .